To decant or not to decant? With apologies to Shakespeare, this is
so often the question on the minds of wine lovers, for whom the
time-honored practice of decanting a favorite bottle of wine can
feel baffling and intimidating.

AZWINE lIfEstylE
lifestyle
AZWINE lIfEstylE

Although it may seem unnecessarily fancy, stuffy, or best left to professional
sommeliers or serious collectors with hundreds of expensive bottles in their
cellars, the ritual of decanting wine isn’t at all complicated or mysterious. It can be
accomplished easily in the comfort of your own home, whenever the occasion arises.
It’s not so much the act of decanting – which involves pouring wine into a
separate container in order to expose the surface of the liquid to oxygen – that
confuses people, but rather the question of why and when to do it. Once you
understand the basic logic behind the custom, it couldn’t be simpler, and may even
enhance your appreciation of a special bottle.

30
30
2

july
octobEr
2015
march
– june / //2015
july –
- october
2015

AZWINE
lIfEstylE
. com
AZWINE
lifestyle
lIfEstylE
. com

Which Kinds of Bottles Need to be
Decanted?
As important a role as decanting plays in the appreciation of
wine, not all bottles require it. In fact, the overwhelming majority of
wines produced today are intended for immediate “pop and pour”
consumption, and require zero decanting. So which bottles ought to
be decanted and which can go without?
Generally, it is customary to decant wines that fall on two extreme
sides of the aging spectrum. As Charles Antin, Specialist Head of Sale
and Associate Vice President of the Christie’s Wine Department, puts it:
“I often decant wines that are either a bit too young, or at peak maturity.

the otherwise harsh tannins – the chemical compound found in
red wines that gives them their specific grippy, mouth-puckering
quality – to round out and become less severe. This is what it means
to allow a wine to open up or breathe. Decanting greatly accelerates
that process. The exposure to oxygen tends to soften up this tannic
structure, enhance a wine’s aromatics, and allow the underlying
fruit flavors of the wine to come forward, making wines that may be
considered a bit shut down or closed (wine-world synonyms for too
young) more immediately accessible.
Again, it should be noted that this is really only necessary for young,
brawny wines that will only enter their optimal drinking window after
several years (or more) in the bottle. If you aren’t sure whether this
applies to the example you’re planning to serve with dinner, there’s
a simple solution: Pour
yourself a taste. If the wine
in your glass seems a bit too
harsh or angular, obscured
by the firm structure of its
tannins, then try pouring
it into a decanter. Not only
are the results likely to
surprise you, but it can be
fascinating (not to mention
a lot of fun) to taste the
wine at various stages as it
opens up and develops over
the course of several hours.

That said, as with all things wine, there’s no right answer. My advice is,
when in doubt, decant. It’s rarely bad for the wine.”
True as this may be, it’s important to understand the fundamental
principles behind the process as they apply to the specific bottle you
have in mind – whether it’s young and powerful or more delicate and
mature.

Decanting Young Wine

Hefty, age-worthy wines that may otherwise seem too young and
tight, such as a big Bordeaux, Barolo, or Napa Cabernet, often benefit
from some time in a decanter. Although these types of wines ideally
would be gradually exposed to oxygen by many decades of aging in
a cellar, not everyone has the time (or patience) to wait around to
drink these impressive bottles.
In this way, decanting a young wine is often necessary to allow

lIfEstylE
com
AZWINElIfEstylE
lIfEstylE..com
com
AZWINE
lifestyle
com

On the opposite end of the continuum are wines that have
reached their peak maturity, particularly if they are more than
10 to 15 years old. Although it may seem counterintuitive to
expose such mature wines to oxygen (since they have long
since evolved past their youthful immature phase) in this
instance, the process of decanting serves a different purpose.
Over time, as a bottle of wine gradually sleeps in a cellar, it is
common for a deposit of sediment to form inside. While this is
completely natural and entirely harmless, it can impart a bitter
and astringent taste, so precautions should be taken to remove the
sediment before consumption.
“The best thing to do is to let the bottle stand upright for a few hours
for the particles to settle, and then decant it slowly so that the sediment
is left in the bottle,” Antin says. Traditionally, it was customary to
decant an older wine with the neck of the bottle held above a candle
(although a flashlight works perfectly well), to keep an eye out for the
sediment as the wine transfers into the decanter. Once the first wisps of
sediment enter the neck of the bottle, immediately stop pouring. You’ll
likely be left with a small amount of sediment-filled wine in the bottle,
which should be discarded.
Generally, you don’t need to wait a long time for an older wine to
breathe in the decanter, and since excess oxygen can spoil particularly